Obsessed with Possessions -repost

31Jan

Once, the philosopher Erich Fromm forecast a society that was obsessed with possessions. He believe that human beings had two basic orientations: having and being. A person with a having orientation seeks to acquire and possess things, property, even people. But a person with a being orientation focuses on the experience. They derive meaning from exchanging, engaging, and sharing with other people.

Unfortunately, Fromm also predicted that a culture driven by commercialism, like the one we live in today, is doomed to the having orientation, which leads to dissatisfaction and emptiness. People is now easier to get what they wanted. However, to share, to offer, to give, or to sacrifice things they have to someone else is not that easy.